When working on building structures, it is frequently difficult for the worker to properly position himself for work on particular troublesome areas of the building structure. One of these troublesome areas is near the top of the structure adjacent eaves which project outwardly beyond the side of the building structure. Workman often use ladders to gain access to those portions of the building near the eaves.
It is common practice to use gutters on these eaves. Unfortunately, the structural quality of these gutters is often insufficient to support the weight of a ladder and of the workman. In many situations, the only feasible way of obtaining access to certain areas of the building is to rest the ladder on the gutter. As a result, the gutter is often damaged by the ladder. Further, the instability of the gutters places the worker in a precarious position when his ladder is supported on the gutter. The problems caused by gutters on the eaves of building structures has accentuated in recent years with the widespread use of aluminum gutters.
Moreover, it is also necessary to repair and replace gutters on occassion. This type of gutter repair is extremely awkward when the ladder is rested against the gutter, even when the gutter has sufficient strength to support the ladder. It is thus often necessary to rest the ladder on the side of the building beneath the eave. The distance which the eave extends from the side of the building frequently makes work from this ladder location impractical and time consuming.
In the past, attempts have been made to provide ladder supports which permit the ladder to rest at a location which positions the worker conveniently. For the most part, however, these attempts have not been successful. The prior art ladder supports have generally lacked the requisite stability for secure support of the ladder, or they have been unduly awkward and cumbersome. While some of the more cumbersome supports do support the ladder satisfactorily, their operation has been so time consuming that they have been self defeating from an economic standpoint.
It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a ladder support which has a minimal set up time and is easy to use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ladder support which has a high degree of stability.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a ladder support which will support a ladder adjacent an eave of a building structure without damaging the structure.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ladder support which has no moving parts.